Author and speaker, Andy Andrews, has said, “We are all coming out of a crisis, going through a crisis, or heading into a crisis.”  I completely agree with this assessment.  During the past six months I have gone through two extremely stressful and scary experiences.  Back in June my father was hospitalized for a month with necrotizing fasciitis (flesh eating bacteria) and 16 days ago my wife went through a 33 hour labor that ended in an emergency caesarean surgery and required two blood transfusions.

Those were not easy experiences and I learned so much about myself and my faith through both of those experiences.  I will most likely write more details about those experiences in the future as they were both such significant life events for me.  Although they were difficult and involved so many different emotions I was able to get through because of one simple reason, my faith in Jesus Christ.

There were several ups and downs through both of those experiences and there were multiple occasions when I feared for the life of my father and my wife.  I prayed and I prayed.  Even when my wife was in surgery for two hours and I was holding my newborn son the only thing I knew to do was pray without ceasing for God to heal her and deliver her from that surgery.

All of us have experienced hardships in the past and will most certainly experience other challenges in the future as well.  How will you respond in the future when those tragedies and challenges arise?  As a follower of Jesus Christ I turn to Him first in all things.  I sin and I continue to fall short of His perfect love in so many ways, but He has already seen me through some incredibly tough challenges and I know He has promised to never leave me nor forsake me.  That is where I draw my strength and my confidence.  The promises of God are what I turn to EVERY time I go through a scary or challenging experience.

As humans we can only do so much and we will come up against challenges in our relationships, finances, health, and so many other areas where we in our own strength will not be able to overcome them.  Whenever you find yourself in a situation like that I encourage you to turn to God.  Cry out to Him and He will hear your prayers.  If you are not a “church person” or a Christian you can still call upon our God and He will hear your prayers.  Now God is not a magic genie who grants you three wishes, but He loves you and desires for you to know Him.  In Matthew 7 Jesus told the parable of the wise and foolish builders.

If your life does not have God at the center it is like a house built on sand.  Things may seem like they are fine, but then a storm comes and everything will wash away.  But if you love God and believe in His son, Jesus Christ, then your house will be built on the rock.  Either way the storms will still come, but when Jesus is the foundation in your life your house will still stand.  Are you certain your life is built on a foundation that will last?  If not I encourage you to consider if now is the time for you to surrender your life to God.  It is the most important thing any of us can ever do.  Everything else in this world is temporal, but God is eternal.

Question: Has God ever helped you through a tough time?  If so how did He help you?  Comment below